updated 12:12 pm EST, Fri January 31, 2014

Exact purpose of visit unknown

Apple CEO Tim Cook is meeting with Irish Taoiseach (prime minister) Enda Kenny today after having addressed workers at the company's factory in Hollyhill, Cork, says local newspaper The Journal. Cook spoke to employees about the company's future plans. Kenny is said to be touring the factory before the meeting.

Beyond those details, it's uncertain why Cook decided to visit the plant now, or what he and the Taoiseach may be discussing. The Hollyhill factory is staffed by over 4,000 people, and currently assembles the MacBook Pro. Cook could be briefing workers on the future of the Pro, and/or announcing plans to assemble other products.

Kenny and Cook might also be discussing politics, especially as they relate to taxes. Apple has come under fire both in Ireland and internationally for exploiting loopholes in the Irish tax system to pay minimal taxes on income earned around the world. Irish politicians have attempted to close some of those loopholes, but it's believed that Apple's tax avoidance scheme is still largely intact.

Apple has actually had offices in Cork for ages. Looking it up, it appears to have been there for 30 years -- since the Mac started. It was originally a smaller operation than it is now, not sure what year they designated it the Euro HQ. Cook visited there last almost two years ago.

"Apple's tax avoidance scheme"... This is not some crooked, illegal, Bernie Madolf type of activity. It is a smart, method of doing business which legally decreases taxes, increases profits and lowers consumer cost. In fact, I'd say that for Apple to not take these actions would be failure of their fiduciary responsibility and would make them liable for legal action.

This is SMART business operation, and no different from you or I taking every legal tax deduction we are entitled to under the law. Calling this an Apple tax avoidance scheme is like saying taking the standard deduction is a tax avoidance scheme. It most definitely NOT a scheme.

Yes, indeed. I actually met a guy at WWDC about 10 years ago, who told me the whole story about Apple's efforts at Cork. I believe it started in 1985, and it was originally staffed with 5-10 people. The original team is responsible for devising the "Disk Image" DMG format, which was very prevlanat and ahead of it's time in those days.

The real purpose of the DMG or "disk image" was for the assembly line .... where Apple wanted to load an OS onto the computer, which would have a welcome screen, i.e. it would be pre-installed with an initial boot screen.

Apparently a lot of these types of technologies came out of Cork, Ireland. It has a long history going back to the time before Jobs was kicked out.